Songwriters in the Round: The Carolina Series at ARTworks

Expect a delightful evening and bring along someone to share a good laugh: Carroll Brown, Big Frank Waddell, and Michael Reno Harrell are accomplished writers, born and raised in the Carolinas, from the North Carolina Mountains to the South Carolina Lowcountry. They each tell engaging real-life stories in rhyme and song and in knee-slapping prose. Some are humorous, and some will tug at your memories.

Storyteller Big Frank Waddell. By Captured Moments Photography.
Storyteller Big Frank Waddell. By Captured Moments Photography.

According to The Charlotte Observer: “Michael Reno Harrell is a classic storyteller with a voice that’s part Marty Robbins, part John Prine. There’s an organic timelessness to his songs, whether he’s rushing through a classic on-the-run tale or quietly mourning a long-dead friend.”

This gifted trio has performed around the country and across the world, together and separately, in festivals and concert venues, churches, pubs and house concerts.

The Lowcountry Sun Newspaper said, “Carroll Brown is a brilliant guitar player whose solos bring applause and leave other guitar players shaking their heads in disbelief and admiration. A powerful, yet warm and clear singing voice and his original songs will touch your heart. Couple this with a cheerful and humorous dialog with his audience between songs…and you have the consummate entertainer.”

Their unique and very successful annual tour is proud to make a stop in Beaufort, celebrating their heritage in this part of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

“It is a very rewarding experience to start with an idea and take it to the completion of a song and then perform it in public,” explained Big Frank Waddell. “My songs are mainly Americana folk and comedy. A few are Gospel and some are what I call Family Folk. I do a lot of storytelling, it’s a natural take.”

Author and songwriter E. David Moulton describes Big Frank Waddell: “Finding a songwriter with such a wide and varied repertoire of songs is rare. Frank Waddell can at one moment tear your heart out from your chest, but then turn around and put everything back in its rightful place leaving you feeling all warm and cozy inside. The next moment you will be shedding tears of laughter at one of Frank’s humorous numbers. Between songs he will tell the back-story of how the song came to be written; these little anecdotes and snippets from various stages of Frank Waddell’s life are every bit as entertaining as the songs themselves.”

The storytelling is Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m., tickets are $17 per person, $12 for students (13+), $7 for children (12 and under) and $12 for groups of 10 or more. This performance is in the black box theater, surrounded by exhibitions, workshops and artists at ARTworks in Beaufort Town Center, 2127 Boundary Street 29902. Visit www.artworksinbeaufort.org or call 843-379-2787.

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